Reductions hit LMC employees

Needing to trim $1.4 million from its 2012-13 budget, Los Medanos College in Pittsburg must reduce the hours of 22 staff positions and eliminate one to balance its projected budget.

These are drastic cuts when compared to those being imposed at the two other district colleges for the next fiscal year.

Contra Costa College and Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill downsized a larger number of employees in the previous two years and as a result, LMC had fewer reserves than its sister colleges and is forced to incur many more staff reductions this year.  

LMC Interim President Richard Livingston said 22 positions will be reduced in the number of work hours scheduled and the number of months worked effective July 1.

Three positions at CCC were reduced by a month and two positions were eliminated at the District Office.

CCC Interim President Dan Henry said, “Most of the reductions are pay cuts in the form of one month’s pay. The pay cut could be in the form of a full month or could be split up depending on the position.”

Livingston said LMC officials believe reducing services when classes are not in session is one way of helping the problem.

He said LMC would try to have affected employee’s time off in between semesters and during spring break.

“We felt we could reduce the employees work year during non-instructional periods in order to reduce our personnel costs and large budget deficit,” he said. “They will continue to receive all their medical benefits.”

Some employees who have spent more time working in the district are given the choice to receive the pay cut and stay in their position, or work for 12 months in a different position and “bump” another employee.

“Bumping” is the process where employees can take the positions of other employees in the same job family who they have seniority over.

The employees throughout the district facing reductions received informal notices last week, district Vice Chancellor of Human Resources Gene Huff said.

A special Governing Board meeting took place in Martinez on Tuesday to officially announce the staff reductions, and later in the week a formal 45-day notice will be delivered to all affected employees.

Livingston said all three colleges had to reduce their 2012-13 budgets to deal with the $6 million districtwide budget cut.

“We wouldn’t be reducing any of (these positions) unless we were in a financial crisis. It’s not ideal,” Livingston said. “It’s going to have an effect on student services. We felt reducing services when classes are not in session is one way of helping the problem.”

Huff said many of the affected employees are lab coordinators who need to be on campus when students are around, but when classes are not in session, they are not typically working.

“We will have those staff working only 10 months out of the year,” he said. Other employees will experience the reductions by working fewer hours throughout the week.

Positions at CCC that will take a reduction in one month’s pay are an EOPS assistant and two student services and instructional support coordinators.

The District Office will eliminate two senior programmer analysts.

District Vice Chancellor of Administrative Services John al-Amin said the district employees in those positions work in the information technology office, which deals with everything computer-related.

No one was affected by the eliminated custodial position at LMC as it was already vacant, Livingston said.